Wifey Wednesday

My daughter at www.Theshadesofpinkblogspot.com posted about her Love for her spouse.
I have to interject some things I heard many many years ago.
From a wise older woman, A woman who was only blessed with the love of her life for 19 years.
My Mama!!

"Sometimes the woman has to be the aggressor".
"It is OK to be aggressive in that way."(her words not mine).
"Work beside your husband not against him."
"Always fix yourself up before he comes home from work, comb your hair, put on a clean dress, Etc."
(she always wore dresses and she got pretty dirty from cooking (with no modern conviences)
cleaning, (again with a broom and mop, no vacuums or wet jets.)
Dishes were washed at the kitchen table, in a dishpan.
Laundry, (done on a washboard and hung on 100 feet of clothesline)

Many many more.

So with that I interject this. A few years ago I was listening to KSHA, a local radio station. Don was the early morning DJ.
As he and his co host talked, they talked of long marriages and how to make it. They listed ten ways to keep the marriage young.
As they read the list I found myself saying, "We do that".
Or "We did that when the kids were young."
So I called the station and told them how right they were. My thoughts were recorded and played several times that day.

What was it?

Laugh a lot, (My husband is a jester, he keeps me laughing but now I keep him laughing with my antics) He says I make him feel young with my teasing, When it seems I pick on him, it is just me making him happy.

Wrestle, (We used to wrestle a lot, Every Saturday morning our kids joined us in the big king size bed and we had a "kick daddy out of bed" game.) We spent lots of evenings on the living room floor giving piggy back rides, riding the babies on our feet and legs, playing tickle, whatever just to get the laughter going.

Give piggy back rides, (my sister has a video of David carrying me up the hill at Flyshecker Zoo in San Francisco, in the early 60s.

Have a secret wink to a joke that you both know. (now that one is a secret, but one word can send up into fits of laughter.)
Hold hands or loop arms when you walk. (one thing we do is touch, Touch is so important to a human. A warm touch can turn any smile on.

Always say, Good morning, or Good night, and Always greet warmly hello or goodbye
(one thing we try to practice but often in our older years are letting down some, mostly because I am asleep when he leaves)
Say "I Love You" it may be your last chance.
Have a warm smile, (no matter how bad the day is) Smile first then fill them in on your day.

Laugh lots, often and loud. We made a vow to keep our home free of stress and yelling and heartache.
No child should go home to fighting parents, children are more important than that.
We did argue, we did disagree and admittedly we broke our word on that a few times, but as a rule, life in our household was pretty even keeled.


So a good marriage takes work, easy work but work, A commitment to make it last.
I can say this because we have 46 years invested.

Even though the teeth are falling out, the hair is silver, you find a new wrinkle every day, the belly wont go flat any longer, the legs and feet ache. Heck the entire body aches.
You can still rejoice in the knowledge that he or she is yours, your investment in a happy future.